Saturday, July 16, 2016

One sits in the high desert surrounded by mountains and the other is a sprawling blue-collar city, but the Rev. Canon Daniel Gutierrez says the similarities between his native Albuquerque, N.M., and Philadelphia are greater than the differences.

Gutierrez, 51, said the problems his parishioners faced in the Episcopal Diocese of the Rio Grande, based in Albuquerque, are universal - problems he will also face after he is ordained Saturday as bishop of the Diocese of Pennsylvania at New Covenant Church in Germantown. The ceremony will begin at 11 a.m.

"I've fallen in love with Philadelphia and the Diocese of Pennsylvania in a relatively short time. When a child is crying and suffering in pain, it's up to the church to reach out and touch them," Gutierrez said Friday afternoon at the Philadelphia Episcopal Cathedral in University City. "There is so much hope and potential here."